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Then She Found Me

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 30 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama | Romance
Written by:
Helen Hunt
Vic Levin
Alice Arlen
Directed by: Helen Hunt
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 25, 2008
DVD: September 2, 2008
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Language(s): English / Hebrew
Summary
RATING: R for language and some sexual content
Starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick, and Ben Shankman
Adapted from Elinor Lipmanās novel of the same name, Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with Then She Found Me, a touching story of schoolteacher April Epner and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment. Following the separation from her husband and the death of her adopted mother, April is contacted by her apparent birth mother, who turns out to be a local talk show host Bernice Graves. As Bernice tries to become the mother to April that she was never able to be, April seems to find solace in the arms of the parent of one of her students, only to find that the mystery to life's questions cannot be solved by a simple revelation. (THINKFilm)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Variety Joe Leydon
A smart, subtle and seriously funny dramedy bound to find favor with sophisticated auds.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
With the screenwriters Alice Arlen and Victor Levin, Hunt adapted the story from a 1990 novel by Elinor Lipman, and has turned the material into a fine, tense, unpredictable comedy of mixed-up emotions and sudden illuminations.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
A strength of Then She Found Me, from Elinor Lipman's novel, is its straightforward, uncomplicated storytelling that keeps the threads untangled and blends the everyday and the absurd with natural ease.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
While there are plenty of laughs, Hunt doesn't play this for farce. Even Midler gives perhaps the most restrained, and arguably the most winning, performance of her screen career.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Clark Collis
Hunt's movie-directing debut frequently crackles with nice gags.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
This is Hunt's show, and she delivers a strong performance that captures all the seriousness and absurdity of the avalanche of circumstances that comes crashing down on April's head. To say she's only half the director she is an actress is actually paying her quite a complement.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
The new movie shrieks of motherhood - raising hot-button issues like biological clocks running down, the rights of birth mothers and whether to adopt or give artificial insemination a shot.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore
With subtle laughs but solid emotional thrust, it will play very well with older audiences.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Then She Found Me, a serious comedy, is more impressive for what it refuses to do than for its modest accomplishment.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
There's something about Hunt's put-upon persona that grates, and it would be nice to see her for once in a role that doesn't call on her to be so angry, short-tempered and disappointed all the time...Still, all in all, Then She Found Me is a warm, entertaining and well-made little movie and an auspicious debut for Hunt the director.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
While Hunt's directing debut is promising, if understated, it's her performance as schoolteacher April Epner that impresses the audience.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Some may dismiss Then She Found Me as a mere "women's film," but it's really a more honest and mature take on sex and the city.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
What ought to be a bittersweet movie about a woman's momentary unraveling feels like a workout class: Cardio melodrama.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
There are some wise observations about parenting. Hunt draws some good performances from the cast and wisely chose a low-key personal story for her directorial debut.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
The plot, as hinted, goes strictly by the "How April Got Her Groove Back" book, but it must be said that the performances push it a notch above pedestrian.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
This whole movie has zero chemistry. Broderick and Hunt are a match made in hell; Firth and Hunt are a match made in limbo.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The material is so charged that it threatens to electrocute any who would touch it. Yet from the moment that Bette Midler, as Bernice the bio-Mom, appears, she becomes the instrument of its emotional release, catharsis teetering on high heels.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
No, there isn't anything wrong with comfort entertainment. Then She Found Me could have, should have been something special - a "Knocked Up" for weary boomers. The only hitch is that it isn't all that entertaining. Nor comforting for that matter.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
There's a quirky, honest movie struggling to emerge from Then She Found Me (April's Jewish heritage is refreshingly portrayed, and there are lovely, scattered moments when the characters surprise you), but Hunt, in her directorial debut, can't seem to decide whether she'd rather make a spicy ethnic dish or bland comfort food.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
In short, it's the kind of film that only a mother, which is to say my mother, would love.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
With Midler missing in action much of the time, the film drowns in a sea of thudding earnestness.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Has some nice moments, but it feels very much like a first film. The pacing is off, and the cast members appear to be acting in completely different projects.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Hunt's crabby performance weighs on the film, though it's nothing compared to Colin Firth's scenery-chewing turn as her self-lacerating new beau.
Read Full Review >Washington Post John Anderson
Suffers from, if anything, a lack of pure confidence in the story, the actors or the audience.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
This is the sort of movie that gives "chick flicks" a bad name. It's a cross between inept melodrama and a bad sit-com.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Matthew Sorrento
Overall, the film is lost and never found. In her first shot as director, Hunt seems direction-less.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A bizarre, overcooked broth that combines a broad sitcom style (the banter goes rat-tat-tat like a steam drill) with a preposterous succession of plot complications, plus solemn questions of identity, adoption and the nature of happiness.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.6 (out of 10) based on 30 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Peter M gave it a1:
The worst movie I have seen in years. It is boring, the story is flat, and overall, the movie has no drive. Watch only if you have absolutely nothing else to do.
Mike T gave it a9:
My wife and I truly loved this little movie. We found it quirky, moving in places, and interesting throughout. I'm amazed at some of the people's comments about it.
Jake B. gave it an8:
As far as I'm concerned, Helen Hunt makes every movie she's in worth watching. When it counts, the emotions are there, the characters are true to life, the personal anguish and triumphs resonate. Ms. Hunt: make more movies!
marshall gave it a0:
I'd never again trust a critic who had anything good to say about this stinker.
Alane S. gave it a10:
Well acted.
Tony B. gave it a4:
Has its moments, but they are few and far between,
Phoebe gave it a7:
not that bad. good for weeknight.
